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INVENTOR,

HFSATTORNEY.

WITNESSES l d/44% 0W7?) 4% Why AB No. 607,657. Patented July l9, I898.

E. R. ESMDND.

FURNITURE.

(Application filed Jan. 17, 1896. (No Model.) 2 Sheets$heet 2.v

WITNESSES: INVENTOR,

v I n BY His ATTORNEY,

UNrrEn STATES ATENT @rrrcn.

ERNEST R. ESMOND, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

FURNITURE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 607,657, dated July 19, 1898.

Application filed anuary 17, 1896. Serial No. 575,833. (No model.) i

To all 1117110777 it may concern: Be it known that I, ERNEST R ESMOND, of New York city, New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Furniture, of which the following is a specification.

Articles of furniture which are provided with one or more drawers or slidessuch, for

. instance, as bureaus, chiffoniers, and desks have, customarily, panels or stationary pieces at the sides and rear, inclosing on three sides the space occupied by the drawer or drawers. These panels or stationary pieces generally are ornamented or finished exteriorly, while the sides and rear of the drawer are simply pieces of unfinished wood and of a grade of material inferior to that which constitutes the outer or exposed face of the drawer.

The ultimate cost ordinarily of the manufacture of a drawer is mainly the expense incurred in cutting the different parts to size and fitting these parts together and is influenced but slightly by constructing the sides and rear of the drawer of the same grade of material as the front. Agreeably with this fact a drawer finished on both sides, as well as on the front face, would cost but a little more than a drawer constructed in the ordinary way.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a construction for the class of furniture typified above which is adapted to the employment of drawers or slides finished upon one or more faces additional to the front, thus avoiding the use of the panels or stationary pieces before alluded to and their consequent cost and yet producing an article of finished and neat appearance.

The accompanying drawings represent an embodiment of my invention, in Which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a chiffonier provided with a number of drawers and embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the corner portion of a desk provided with a set of drawers and shows a slightly different construction from that embraced in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section, enlarged, taken on a plane parallel with the front of the drawer, showing the construction of the parts at the side of the latter. Fig. 4

is a cross-section taken on a plane at right angles to the plane of Fig. 3, exhibiting a chiffonier.

preferred construction at the adjacent upper and lower edges of two drawers. Fig. 5 is an elevation, enlarged, of a portion of av post and a piece forming a slideway, showing the means for securing the latter to the former. Fig. 6 is a plan view of Fig. 5.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all figures.

I' have shown in Fig. 1 a so-called chiffonier or movable piece of furniture provided with a closet and drawers, choosing this as illustrative of the class of furniture to which the present invention is applicable. It is seen to comprise corner-posts or standards A,

terminating in feet at. These posts and feet may be of suitable shape and ornamentation and each post be secured to its respective foot in any appropriate manner. The posts are attached one to the other and held in position at the top and bottom by pieces B and B, the former of which may be in the nature of a table-top. Pieces 0, forming slideways for the drawers, are secured at the'sides of the Preferably these pieces 0 are T shape in cross-sectional outline, as shown in Fig. 3, and their ends are secured to the posts in such a manner as will bring them into the position shown in Fig. 3, with one member of the T horizontal to form supports for the bottom edges of the drawers.

The ends of the pieces 0 may be provided with bracket-like attachments for the purpose of securing the pieces to the posts.

These attachments may be in the form of detachable pieces secured to the pieces 0, orthey may be made integral with the latter. A construction in which the parts are made integral is shown in Figs. 5 and 6, in which the piece 0 is provided at the end with the attachment D, the shank d of which is eX- tended at an angle from the upright member of the piece 0. At the outer extremity the shank d is provided with curved side extensions (1 cl, adapted to embrace the post A. A lug (Z is preferably provided on the inner surface of the extensions cl (1, which enters an aperture in the side of the post and assists in steadying the piece 0 when in place. The lug is provided with a threaded socket, with which engages a clamping bolt or screw (1 passing through the post. An ornamental piece d, giving a finish to the parts, is

clamped tothe post by the screw 01 It will be seen from Fig. 6 that the parts are so related that an unobstructed passage-way is left for the drawer.

Instead of using a bracket D ofthis character for securing the parts together the piece 0 may be secured to the post by brackets 6, whereby the standards are removed from contact with the sides of the drawers. This construction is shown in Fig. 2, in which E designates the post of a desk, forillustration, provided with the brackets or polygonal portionse, to the faces of which the backs of the pieces 0 are directly secured.

It is not intended that the space between the posts shall be fitted with panels or stationary pieces, but that the same shall be left open, one or more sides or one or more sides and the rear of the piece of furniture being formed by the corresponding outer face or faces of the drawer or drawers, which are appropriately finished for this purpose.

The employment of T-shaped pieces to form the slideways for the drawers is especially advantageous, since the exposed face of the upright member of the T may be readily finished to present an ornamental appearance, while the upper part of the member extending at right angles to the surface of the slideway acts as a guard to prevent lateral displacement of the drawer and the lower part of the upright member acts as a guard to the drawer immediately below, confining its movement and preventing the entrance of dust over the upper edge of the drawer.

The horizontal member of the T, or that member extending between adjacent drawers, is much thinner than the corresponding piece in the usual construction, and consequently the drawers approach each other much nearer than they ordinarily do. Where a number of r drawers are arranged one over the other, this difference in thickness effects a material saving in the Vertical height required for any given number of drawers. If desirable, this upright member may belet wholly or partially into a rabbet in the surfaces of the drawers,or the arrangement may be, as shown in Fig. 3, external thereto. A strip of molding F is shown in this figure as being secured to each drawer close to the edge of the piece 0. If made firm and secure, these strips F on the lower parts of the drawers may be utilized to form slide-strips for the drawers, thus dispensing with the horizontal portions of the pieces 0.

Each drawer will be separated from the one immediately above or below by approximately the thickness of the horizontal portion of the piece C. To prevent this space from appearing at the front and rear, the

corresponding faces of the drawers areextended in a manner to occupy the space, as shown at F. The extension may be all upon one drawer or it may be divided between two adjacent drawers.

A neat appearance is afforded at the front of the piece of furniture, and an efficient exclusion of dust between the meeting edges of an upper and a lower drawer is obtained by adopting the construction of Fig. 4.

G designates the upper, and G the lower, drawer. A strip of molding g is secured to the lower portion of the drawer G and likewise a strip g to the upper portion of the drawer G, the joint between the opposite surfaces of the strips being as close a one as consistent with the movement of the drawers. The molding is thicker above the joint than it is at the location of the joint,v

whereby the latter is protected by an overhanging ledge or hood f, which offers thus a greater hindrance to the entrance of dust than if the edge of the joint was flush with the outer edge of the molding.

If the lock is situated at the side of the drawer, as shown at H, it will secure the parts more securely than when it is situated at the front of the drawer, since it will be almost impossible in the former case to break the look from its fastenings by a forcible outward pull on the drawer.

It is evident that this construction is readily applicable to instances in which it is desirable that the drawer or slide should be able to be drawn outward at both the front and the rear, and also where the frame supporting the drawers is fixedly secured in place.

Furniture constructed according to this invention offers advantages in the absence in it of spaces and corners where dust may lodge and accumulate. The frame being entirely of skeleton or open work construction is freely open for the removal of any slight amount of dust that may accumulate after the drawers are taken out. This feature favors its use in hospitals and similar places where facility of cleaning and difficulty afforded for the lodgment of germs are highly desirable.

I-Iaving described my in vention,what I consider as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a series of standards,-a series of drawers, a series of slides upon which the drawers rest, and a series of pieces extending angularly out beyond the path of the drawers and connecting the series of slides with the standards.

2. The combination of a series of standards, a series of drawers, a series of slides upon which the drawers rest, a series of pieces extending angularly out beyond the path of the drawers connecting the series of slides with the standards, and strips secured to the drawers supporting them upon the upper edges of the slides.

In witness whereof I have signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ERNEST R. ESMOND. WVitnesses:

PIERSON L. WELLs, ALBERT P. WELLs. 

